Monday, December 23, 2013

20th wedding anniversary

My original wedding dress, from 1994. Custom sewn by me, with all hand beaded lace, including the hem and train upon which was appliqued 8" deep, hand- sequined and pearled lace.

Inspiration Dress

The modern 20th wedding anniversary gift is platinum. I wanted to wear a wedding dress for my anniversary party, but instead of white, I chose to wear a silver (platinum!) dress. I tried on many dresses in my search for an inspiration. This side draped dress was close to the preferred silhouette. In my fabric stash, I found a pale silver fabric to pair with some white chiffon.

Recently I took a class called Fast Track Fitting by Joi Mahon on Craftsy.com. I really liked this technique of creating and altering patterns based on detailed measurements, and used it as the basis for this dress and cocktail dresses for my daughters (future posts).

The final results. A side draped dress with a sweetheart neckline. Rhinestones follow the drape, leading to a chiffon inset (in person the rhinestones stand out significantly more dramatically). The necklace was made from the same rhinestones as the dress. (More details about the rhinestones in a later post).

Due to fabric limitations, the dress was not quite as full as originally planned. Hopefully I'll lose a few pounds before the actual anniversary which will add a little more draping. (I'll also not be sewing right up to the time the photo was taken, so I'll have time to iron!)

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Welcome to BrushStrokes

Life is like a canvas. It begins blank & every day is another brush stroke. Make your life a masterpiece.

About Mary Brush

Mary Brush's family and friends often refer to her as a "Renaissance Woman" and it's not too difficult to figure out why. She is passionate about a variety of things, including working with small businesses, sales and marketing campaigns, manuscript editing, copy writing, graphic and CAD design, web design, custom sewing, interior design, and therapeutic parenting. Her enthusiasm, talent and hard work ensure that she excels in all of them. Her struggle has often been deciding where to focus her attention.

BrushStrokes began in 1988 as a clothing design studio, specializing in custom clothing and design, and quickly expanding to include interior decorating, architectural CAD design and graphic design.

Today, Mary Brush lends her years of experience to the corporate world. BrushStrokes offerings focus on corporate consulting (including restructuring operations, HR, profit and loss, and sales and marketing - including marketing campaigns and web site design) and manuscript editing (business writing, ebooks, and fiction).